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Proper 23, Year C
October 10, 2004
Christ Church, Covington
“Then one of them… turned back, praising God with a loud voice” (Lk.
17:15).
It’s the morning of Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. Imagine rising early,
boarding the commuter train in still-dark suburban Connecticut, coming
into the Station in New York and then catching the subway down to the
World Trade Center stop. You’re on your way to work. It’s an average day;
stock market up and down (but mostly down: .com bubble, remember); still
summertime in the city. Maybe you’re thinking about your work, about going
out to dinner that night, about the vacation you’re planning in October.
You emerge in the central plaza from the subway station below, moments
before an airplane hits the north tower of the World Trade Center. You
walk over to your office in one of the smaller buildings that make up the
World Trade Center Complex, more from habit than anything else. It doesn’t
make sense to go back down into the subway, not with the damaged building
above it. You arrive in your office with co-workers, and all in the midst
of confusion. From your office window, you watch the second plane hit the
south tower a few minutes later. You leave the building before the towers
collapse, wrecking the complex. Your day is no longer average.
This is how a friend of mine experienced the morning of September 11th,
over three years ago. There are so many feelings and thoughts that might
go with an experience like this. Fear, certainly; panic, perhaps; anger,
probably a little bit later. Thoughts might intrude as well: “Will I be
alright?”; “How could they do it?”; “Somebody’s going to pay for this”.
There might even be a sense of relief; a feeling of thanksgiving for
preservation. “Thank God I’m alive”, we might think.
Now think about yourself. You might even think about yourself on the
morning of September 11th. Perhaps you learned about events in New York
and Washington over your morning coffee, or in the car commuting, or as
you arrived at work. Some of us learned about events while we were at
prayer, at the Christ Episcopal School celebration of the eucharist that
was held that morning. Do you remember? Perhaps you experienced some of
these same thoughts and feelings that we imagined earlier. Consider it for
a moment, and think back. This memory, with its thoughts and feelings, is
one of the things you ought to take away with you today. Maybe you were
grateful for preservation, for family and friends and for our society.
Maybe you thought, “Thank God I’m alive, we’re alive, that life will go
on.”
There’s the point. When we are thankful the thanks is always addressed to
someone. And when we deal with the really big issues, there is often no
one else to be thankful to but God. So a sense of thanksgiving is evidence
of God, and the expression of faith. Like the leper in our Gospel today,
we return and offer thanks. Not every one gets there, not every time.
That’s another point about the story of the lepers. Ten are healed; only
one returns to give thanks. Having sorted through so many thoughts and
feelings, we come to this one, pure gratitude for the gift.
Now think again about yourself. Not on the morning of September 11th, but
about where you are right now in your life: with coffee in the morning,
riding to the office, picking up the children at school. Imagine yourself
at work, at play, even at prayer. Picture yourself (it shouldn’t be hard)
at Christ Church, Covington. There you are. It’s an average day. You’re
watching the day beginning, the day ending, and yourself at peace. If
there is a feeling of thanksgiving, a thought of gratitude for so many
gifts, then you are in the presence of God. There you are.
The Rev’d John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.
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